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Musculoskeletal injury symptoms among hired Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina
Author(s) -
Quandt Sara A.,
Arnold Taylor J.,
Talton Jennifer W.,
Miles Christopher M.,
Mora Dana C.,
Arcury Thomas A.,
Daniel Stephanie S.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.23255
Subject(s) - medicine , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , poison control , physical examination , physical therapy , musculoskeletal injury , family medicine , ankle , environmental health , surgery , alternative medicine , pathology
Background Although children 10–17 years can be hired to work in agriculture, little research has addressed possible musculoskeletal injuries. Children may be at particular risk for these injuries because of the repetitive and load bearing nature of work tasks. Existing research relies on child workers to self‐report musculoskeletal injuries. Methods In 2017, 202 Latinx child farmworkers ages 10–17 employed across North Carolina completed survey interviews. In 2018, 145 of these children (94 [64.8%] current farmworkers) completed a physical examination and second interview. The examination obtained findings for upper and lower extremity as well as back injuries. Results Positive indicators for musculoskeletal symptoms were few in either current or former child farmworkers. The knee was most common site for positive indicators with 15.4% of children having at least one. Combining all anatomical sites, 29.0% of children had at least one positive indicator, with no significant difference between current and former farmworkers. Overall, boys had significantly more indicators of knee injuries than girls (21.3% vs. 4.1%), indicators of ankle injuries were found only in the youngest workers (9.5% of children 11–13 years), and significantly fewer current farmworkers had indicators of lower back injuries than former farmworkers (6.4% vs. 17.7%). Conclusions Expectations of injuries come from previous studies using child farmworker self‐reports, adult farmworker injury rates, and sports medicine pediatric findings. Hired child farmworkers may not perform activities as repetitious and load‐bearing as children in sports training or adult farmworkers. Additional research using physical examination is needed to confirm these findings.